Ect Snow

[Sanjive]

Hi Guys,

I am new to this club but have seen many posts earlier using google.

Today I tested the ECT SNOW feature in my RX300 as there was lot of ice and snow on the drive way in may apartment. I live in Columbus, OH and there is not that much snow as compared to North East or Midwest so far this year. When I turned it on and drove for some 100 meters and took a turn the car just skidded and I lost control of the car and it went on the median. Though i was driving at only 5 miles and applied breaks after it started skidding and took my foot off the throttle, still it skidded.

I am not sure why this happened?

After this I turned off the ECT SNOW feature and then every thing was fine. I was able to drive with out any issue in that icy/snow condition.

I am wondering if ECT SNOW should be on while driving or should I use it only to take off and then turn it off?

Any ideas why this could have happened?

Thanks,

Sanjive

[1990LS400]

There is not much that technology can do to help if you are driving on a sheet of ice. There is a compound in some snow tires - like the Bridgestone Blizzaks I have on my LS - that supposedly makes the tire tread grab on to ice a little better. At the least, you need all season tires with a lot of tread for driving on snow and ice. Infinitely better is to have a set of real snow tires -- ones with the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewall.

I use the Snow mode setting on my 00 LS only when needed and I turn it off as soon as possible so that the transmission shifts normally. The way I look at it, if I can reach about 20 mph, I no longer need Snow mode above that speed.

Leave VSC turned on if your RX has it. VSC is amazing for being able to keep a car going where you want it to go.

[BillyShaft]

x2

The tires are much more of a factor. The snow setting simply changes the shift points and the firmness of the shifts so that you dont break the tires loose inadvertantly. If you play with the snow setting a bit, you wil feel how the tranny becomes extra smooth but low performance when in snow mode.

Sadly, the snow mode does not do any Mach 5 coolness like dropping sand or producing spikes from your tires. :)

[Sanjive]

There is not much that technology can do to help if you are driving on a sheet of ice. There is a compound in some snow tires - like the Bridgestone Blizzaks I have on my LS - that supposedly makes the tire tread grab on to ice a little better. At the least, you need all season tires with a lot of tread for driving on snow and ice. Infinitely better is to have a set of real snow tires -- ones with the mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewall.

I use the Snow mode setting on my 00 LS only when needed and I turn it off as soon as possible so that the transmission shifts normally. The way I look at it, if I can reach about 20 mph, I no longer need Snow mode above that speed.

Leave VSC turned on if your RX has it. VSC is amazing for being able to keep a car going where you want it to go.

I do have M+S tires on and that's why i was more perplexed as to how this could have happened. And the thickness of ice/snow was not more than even half inch. The VSC is on too.

[1990LS400]

I do have M+S tires on and that's why i was more perplexed as to how this could have happened. And the thickness of ice/snow was not more than even half inch. The VSC is on too.

Do you know if your tires have the mountain/snowflake logo on the sidewall? Tires with that logo have to meet stringent tire industry standards for winter performance. For snow tires to be truly effective, they need a lot of tread depth -- several times the 2/32" or 3/32" which is considered the minimum on all season or summer tires when used in non-snow conditions. My snow tires are worn down to 7/32" tread remaining and are barely adequate for making it through their 6th and final winter before I replace them. I almost always change from snow tires back to summer tires on the the first day of Spring -- only 2 months, 14 days to go! Wooohooo!

The "M+S" label on tires has more to do with tread design than effectiveness: Here is a good article: http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpa...currentpage=116 The standards are pretty lax and a tire manufacturer can slap a M+S label on almost any all season tire.

If you were on ice, the thickness of the ice doesn't really matter. Heavy duty snow tires might not have helped that much. One millimeter of ice is just as slick as an inch of ice.

[kuri]

We have M+S (Michelin LTX M/S) tires on the RX too and trust me, the grip level is no where near a true snow/winter tire. Having been in friends' cars with true winter tires, I can honestly say they'd run circles around my car in snow/icy conditions.

The thickness of the snow/ice doesn't matter when you're skidding on ice. Ice is ice. Unfortunately, VSC, AWD, snow mode, and all the other technology in the world won't help you if the tires themselves have no grip. :(

[jgr7]

Hi Guys,

I am new to this club but have seen many posts earlier using google.

Today I tested the ECT SNOW feature in my RX300 as there was lot of ice and snow on the drive way in may apartment. I live in Columbus, OH and there is not that much snow as compared to North East or Midwest so far this year. When I turned it on and drove for some 100 meters and took a turn the car just skidded and I lost control of the car and it went on the median. Though i was driving at only 5 miles and applied breaks after it started skidding and took my foot off the throttle, still it skidded.

I am not sure why this happened?

After this I turned off the ECT SNOW feature and then every thing was fine. I was able to drive with out any issue in that icy/snow condition.

I am wondering if ECT SNOW should be on while driving or should I use it only to take off and then turn it off?

Any ideas why this could have happened?

Thanks,

Sanjive

First off the ECT Snow switch has nothing to do with turning or skidding. The ECT Snow switch forces the transmission to start in 2nd gear so you don't spin the tires when starting out. Second when you turn on ice and start skidding your not supposed to put the brakes on as that just locks the wheels up and keeps you skidding, ABS won't even help you there. If you are going to be driving on ice you need chains and even that isn't always going to work.

Let me ask you this can you run on ice in tennis shoes at 5 MPH and then turn or try and stop? Now take your 4 thousand pound car and think about doing the same thing.

Jeff

[Grumpa72]

Great comment. I have talked with other owners who were unaware what this ECT does. Just like the old manual transmission days, when we started out in second to keep from spinning the tires. Your skid was an unfortunately timed event and was NOT the result of the ECT but ice/snow/other "bad" stuff.

Similar comments about vehicles with all-wheel/4 wheel drive that slide off the road. Road traction has nothing to do with AWD but with tires, road surface, speed, etc. About four years ago I was helping my daughter drive her Mustang from AZ back to PA in April. I hit some snow and sleet in MO and, if you know anything about mustangs, you know that they are abominable in snow. I slowed way down to less than 30 mph and kept on trucking. About every second mile there was a vehicle in the median and it was usually a 4WD drive pickup or an AWD SUV. My miserable little Mustang had a couple of momentary scary moments but never lost it completely.

Gary